The Demon in the Wood Quotes

“Fear is a powerful ally, but feed it too often, make it too strong, and it will turn on you.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Demon in the Wood

“It's my own name I'm afraid of forgetting."
"Your true name is written here," she said tapping his chest. "Tattooed on your heart. You don't let just anyone read it.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Demon in the Wood

“Start building walls, and people begin to wonder what you’re hiding.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Demon in the Wood

“There will be, he promised in the darkness, new words written upon his heart. I will make one.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Demon in the Wood

“What's your favorite color?" asked Sylvi.
"I don't have one."
"How can you not have one?"
Deep blue like the True Sea. Red like the roofs of the Shu temples. The pure, buttery color of sunlight—not really yellow or gold, what would you call it? All the colors you couldn't see in the dark.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Demon in the Wood

“I would burn a thousand villages, sacrifice a thousand lives to keep you safe.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Demon in the Wood

“There is no safe place. There is no haven. Not for us.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Demon in the Wood

“With the last bit of his strength, he tore his arm free and lashed out blindly, furiously, with all his terror and rage, with all the hope that had been born and died this day. Let me make a mark on this world before I leave it.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Demon in the Wood

“Never let them touch you. Because one touch was enough to reveal it, this gift lurking inside him. It was enough to make him less a boy than a prize.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Demon in the Wood

“She rose and brushed the hair back from his face. "You read the flow of power the way others chart tides," she marveled. "It will make you a great leader.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Demon in the Wood

“When she'd gone, she had taken their only lantern. He hadn't had the courage to ask her to leave it with him. He was too old to be afraid of the dark. So he'd lain awake for two nights, curled beneath his furs, listening to the wolves howl, counting the minutes until morning.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Demon in the Wood

“In the eerie, muffled silence of the water, he heard his mother's voice, vicious like a whip crack. She was always more of him, demanding it, and now she told him to fight. She spoke his true name, the one she only used when they trained, the name tattooed on his heart. A heart that had not stopped beating. A heart that still had life.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Demon in the Wood

“There will be," he promised in the darkness, new words written upon his heart. "I will make one.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Demon in the Wood

“To him, she was always Mama, Madraya.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Demon in the Wood

“He would have lived next door to a garbage gully if it meant a roof over his head, hot meals, waking up in the same room every morning without his heart hammering as he tried to remember where he was.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Demon in the Wood

“He understood then. The Grisha lived as shadows did, passing over the surface of the world, touching nothing, forced to change their shapes and hide in corners, driven by fear as shadows were driven by the sun. No safe place. No haven. There will be, he promised in the darkness, new words written upon his heart. I will make one.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Demon in the Wood

“These were the trees he liked best, the kind that never lost their green, that always smelled of sap. In woods like these, it felt like summer was still alive, as if a sun were buried in every rough trunk like a warm, dormant heart.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Demon in the Wood

“It's a balance, his mother always said. Fear is a powerful ally, but feed it too often, make it too strong, and it will turn on you.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Demon in the Wood

“The would approach him. They always did. But he felt more anxious than usual. He'd stopped trying to make friends in the places he and his mother visited—there was no point when they moved on so quickly. Now he wasn't quite sure how to go about it.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Demon in the Wood

“What's your favorite color?” asked Sylvi.
“I don't have one.”
“How can you not have one?”

Deep blue like the True Sea. Red like the roofs of the Shu temples. The pure, buttery color of sunlight—not really yellow or gold, what would you call it? All the colors you couldn't see in the dark.

“I never really thought about it.”
“Mine’s rainbow,” said Sylvi.
“That’s not a color.”
“Is too.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Demon in the Wood

“Do you understand me? I would burn a thousand villages, sacrifice a thousand lives to keep you safe.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Demon in the Wood